Product Description

It is mid 19th century Europe. The railroads that first appeared in England are now appearing on the European mainland. Wealth and prestige await the player who can tap into the resources and demands of the continent. Do you build through the mountains of Southern Europe, or across the expanse of Eastern Russia? If you are fortunate enough, maybe you can sign a charter agreement with a strategically located town or even a capital. A continent awaits for the Railways of Europe.

Railways of Europe is an expansion map for Railways of the World. You will need the pieces from the basic game (track and city tiles, shares, money, empty city markers, trains and first player marker) to play Railways of Europe.

Product Reviews

This is a terrific expansion for the Railways of the World series of train games.
Already in 2008 a map for Europe had been published as an expansion for Railroad
Tycoon, under the name Rails of Europe. After the initial publication of Railways of
the World, the Railways of Europe expansion underwent a few further minor tweaks into
its current form.

Several new rules appeared in this expansion for the first time, such as permanent
major lines, more choice for Railroad Baron cards, new Railroad Operation cards,
clearer hex classification and costs, and improved component quality. Most of these
changes and improvements were taken over when Railroad Tycoon was reimplemented as
Railways of the World, and became the new base game for the series.

The Europe map is particularly ideal for 3-4 players, although it can be played just
fine with only 2 players as well. It is an excellent alternative to the Eastern U.S.
map, and if you are looking for a change of pace, adding this expansion to the base
game will give more variety, balance, scalability, and challenge. The layout of the
cities and terrain is more symmetrical, and because the cities are more sparse and
building track is more costly, it offers a tighter and tougher game that proves very
rewarding and fun to play. Highly recommended!

When one designer continues to design games in the same series, it's
a neat thing to watch; as the games get better and better. I'm in the
camp that Railroad Tycoon took the great game Age of Steam and made it
more accessible to most folks, adding in great components and more
fun. Railroad Tycoon wasn't perfect, but I still wanted to see some
expansions for it - especially as Age of Steam seems to be the most
expansion-oriented game ever. Finally, Rails of Europe (Eagle Games,
2008 - Glenn Drover) has been released, which is technically an
expansion for Railroad Tycoon but can almost be called a slight
upgrade as well.

Rails of Europe does an excellent job at tightening up the board a
bit (as well as the obvious fact that the map changes to Europe) and
adds a few other changes that make it slightly superior to the
original game. I can play either game and be satisfied, but I
certainly prefer the European version. Rails over Europe is hopefully
the first expansion in a line of games that takes the Railroad Tycoon
system and improves and expands it.

So what's in the expansion?

The map is Europe, a noticeable change from the original game map,
which was the Eastern section of the United States of America. More
importantly, the board is about 2/3 the size of the original board,
which while still covering a large amount of the table is slightly
easier to manage. The board is also a single piece (less shifting!),
although it still folds inward with those annoying little "valleys"
that it creates. Extra space is included on the scoring track, making
it easier to move the scoring pieces around. There's a lot less
wasted space on the board (although Great Britain is sadly ignored).
The board is a little clearer with regard to colors, as it is easier
to tell blue and purple hexes apart. At the same time, in poor
lighting, the blue and black hexes can be occasionally confused. The
map has much less of a sprawl than the previous one did, and there is
no "high income" zone, like the far northeast in the first map.
Everything is evenly spread out, with more mountains, and fewer
connections.

Railroad Barons are dealt to each player (the same as the original
game), but this time players are dealt two and can choose between
them. While they are very similar to the original Tycoons (points for
the most links, the most consecutive links, etc.), having the choice
is nice - especially if one of the Barons is a play style you don't
wish to use. If you don't like either one, well, that's tough luck;
but one of them should be interesting and possibly enough to build a
strategy around.

Major Rail Lines are handled completely differently than in the
original game. Instead of players waiting until a specific Railroad
Operation card is turned over, they can complete any of the five major
lines (all listed on six convenient Major Line cards). Players simply
have to connect the two cities on the cards (not an easy task) to
score the points. Since players can start attempting to connect the
cities from turn one, this (along with the Baron cards) helps
determine a player's strategy.

The game comes with twenty-nine new Railroad Operation cards, which
take the place of the original deck. Many of these are very similar
to the original cards with a few interesting additions. City Charters
choose a city (a smaller one), and the player who takes that card is
the only player who may build a link into that city. As you can
imagine, if these cards show up early in the game, the demand
(especially in a five player game) is quite high. Capital Charters are
similar to hotels, except that they give a player one point for every
link built into a particular city. These are extremely powerful,
which is why they are limited to only one per player. At the same
time, they allow for some interesting player interactions, as other
players may deliberately build tracks in such a way as to limit the
number of connections into a city. Tunnel Engineer cards cut the
price of a future build in half for mountains and ridges. Considering
how many mountains are on the map, this card is also quickly snapped
up when it appears.

Interestingly, the rules about "following" rivers are no longer in
place. Instead, if a hex has any water at all, it's a water hex.
This makes the game simpler, I suppose; but we still play with the
rules from the original edition.

Players will need the money (if you haven't replaced it with superior
poker chips), trains, tiles, and other physical pieces from the
original game; and everything fits fairly well into the original box,
although I have no idea how future expansions will fit.

The rules are fairly simple and short, although a few things could
have been made clearer. For example, the rules about major lines are
under the "Strategy" section, which could easily be missed by folks
who don't want to read that section. Teaching the game is simple;
it's the same thing as Railroad Tycoon - most changes are minor.
Regardless, the game feels like a much-polished version of the
original game. While I enjoy Railroad Tycoon quite a bit (it's
knocked Age of Steam rather far down my list of enjoyable games), I
think I prefer this version.

If I want to play a wide, sprawling game, with six players (since the
expansion only covers up to five), then the original game is what I'm
looking for. However, a tighter, faster, different animal emerges
with the new map (twenty-six fewer cities), and the major links and
simplified rules go a far way into making this expansion practically
Railroad Tycoon 1.2. Fans of the original will easily enjoy the
expansion; and hopefully, it's the first in a long line of expansions
to come.